AP
In this Oct. 25, 2017, photo acquired by The Associated Press, George Nader poses backstage with President Donald Trump at a Republican fundraiser in Dallas. Nader, a convicted pedophile, was told by the Secret Service that he could not meet the president. His business partner, Elliott Broidy, helped him secure this photo with the president.
- George Nader, the business partner of top Trump fundraiser Elliot Broidy, was eager to secure a photo of himself with President Donald Trump.
- The Secret Service explicitly told Broidy that Nader was banned from meeting Trump. But despite this, Nader still got his photo.
- According to the Associated Press, the circumstances surrounding the photo are unclear, but it may have been linked to a $189,000 donation from Broidy to the Republican National Committee.
Elliott Broidy, a top fundraiser for President Donald Trump, and George Nader, Broidy's business partner, used their influence to negotiate high-dollar deals with Gulf princes and lobbied hard to change US foreign policy in their favor, according to the Associated Press.
One deal they struggled to secure seemed much simpler: a photo of Nader with Trump.
According to the Associated Press, the US Secret Service had explicitly told Broidy, who was co-hosting a fundraiser for Trump and the Republican National Committee in October 2017, that Nader was not allowed to meet Trump.
The exact reason why was unclear, the AP said, but it may have stemmed from Nader's past conviction on pedophilia charges in Europe, of which he was given a one-year jail sentence in the Czech Republic in 2003.
Additionally, RNC officials reportedly said no one could take a photo with Trump without donating to the campaign. Broidy reportedly suggested to Nader that a donation of $100,000 to $250,000 would be enough to score the coveted photo.
Nader got the photo, which shows him with Trump, grinning in front of the American flag.
On November 30, Broidy donated $189,000 to the RNC. At the time, that was more money than he had given to the Republican Party in his over two decades of fundraising for Republicans, the AP said.